Glenda Collins

Collins was discovered by Carroll Levis, whose promotion landed her a contract with Decca Records.[2] She released three singles through Decca which failed to chart and was dropped by the label.

Her manager father then recorded some demos with her and introduced her to independent record producer Joe Meek,[3] who took her on. Meek featured house bands The Tornados and also The Outlaws featuring the guitarist Ritchie Blackmore on some of her tracks.[2]

She released a total of eight singles with Meek, released through the HMV Pop and Pye labels, none of which appeared in the UK Singles Chart.[2] After Meek's suicide in 1967 she recorded sporadically, but his death had effectively put paid to her career; and she retired at the end of the 1960s after a few years on the cabaret circuit.[2]

Collins came out of retirement briefly in 1999 to record a cover version of "Avenues and Alleyways" (The Protectors theme) with record producer Russell C. Brennan (aka Russell C. Writer), which featured on the compilation album, Cult Themes from the 70's, Vol. 2, on Future Legend Records. Her agents were keen to organise a tour.

A 2006 compilation titled This Little Girl's Gone Rockin' contained her complete surviving recorded output.

In 2019, Collins made a second comeback and teamed up again with Brennan once more, as she liked working with him and considered him Meek's successor, to do a new cover of another theme for the last album in the Future Legend Records cult themes series. It was called Cult Themes Forever. This time she recorded "Nobody's Fool" (the theme from Budgie) written by Ray Davies. A full track listing for this 15 track album is available online.[4]

In 2020, Collins did a special recording with Brennan again. This was a unique release as it was co produced by Joe Meek. Utilising a backing track recorded in the 1960s by Meek, Brennan wrote a female slant on the song, "The Long Drop", originally meant for Tony Kaye (aka Tony Grinham). It is released online to coincide with the anniversary of Meek's death on 3 February 2020. The response to the releases were so positive Future Legend Records signed her to a permanent deal, and Brennan is currently producing an album with Collins for a 2022 release. The first single from the album 'Too Sad To Cry was release in March 2022. Prior to that Future Legend Records re-issued her Decca singles with one of the tracks "Find Another Fool", being remixed by Brennan. Glenda's long awaited solo album of new tracks called 'Second Chance' came out in December 2022 produced by Russell C. Brennan and on Future Legend Records, where all her other releases had also featured.

• Future Legend Records: Glenda Collins